After hours of air time, the second team for the Columbia Ashoka project touched ground yesterday in Egypt. The team begins Phase II of the project by evaluating two of the selected Ashoka Fellows, Magdy Aziz and Seham Ibrahim.
Magdy works with children from the region of Upper Egypt, south of Cairo. He heads an organization called Al Tanweer, which that creates opportunities for girls to participate in sport. Sara Yap, Naofumi Ikeda and Caitlin Fitzpatrick will work on the project background and perform interviews with the child participants, parents, community members and additional stakeholders.
Seham Ibrahim developed her organization, Tofulty (Our Childhood) through her already active engagement with the community of Helwan, a region just on the outskirts of Cairo. Her program provides an alternative way for children to participate in the community through vocational training, karate, hip-hop and other volunteer opportunities for the kids to play a positive role in the area. For additional background on Seham's project, press HERE.
The Columbia team aims at developing best practices and potential recommendations for the project which is supported by a grant from Nike. Phase I in January 2009 involved interviewing three additional fellows. The January team comprised of three members: Michael Lorsbach, Sarah Tadlaoui and Sara Yap; Jessica Barnes, a PhD candidate from Yale University, advises the Columbia Team and has extensive field experience in Egypt. The five members of the team are participants in the Economic and Political Development Workshop through Columbia University's SIPA Program (School for International and Public Affairs).
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